Sappy and bright with red cherries and redcurrants, as well as some appealing spicy hints. This has some savouriness. Juicy and expressive with good focus.

Supple and fresh; juicy and bright. Light red cherry and plum fruit with good acidity. Shows freshness and poise, and a tapering finish, with a hint of pepper and cedar.

La Crema's pinot gris is a ripe, fullish, fleshy and fruity white wine, with white pepper flavour and well-measured lees influence, and long, warm, pleasantly bitter finish. There's considerable depth and concentration on offer in the category, also very good length. Clearly well-made wine from carefully tended vines.

Textured with sweet redcurrant fruit and a touch of raspberry. Nice weight: fruity and lively with cherries and plums and good balance.

I was doing a bit of cellar management (emphasis on “bit”) when I came across this bottle. Sure, it was in my inventory, but it was in a generic area (“My Cellar”). In actuality, it was in a rack, in the temperature-controlled cellar and, well, it was time to open up that space. Faintly hued, slightly more orange than pink, with tart cherry on the nose, with a touch of minerality and yeast. The palate is heavy on tartness, with subtle fruit, and multiple layers. Yeah, I could hang out here for a while, even a long while. Really delightful. Outstanding.

A warm and really quite inviting pinot gris of a purpose that’s truly about fruit, raised in stainless steel, dry as can be and more than moderate of alcohol (13.7 per cent declared). Finding this to be more of a food pairing wine than it is a sipper, first because it’s not all that simple and second for reasons already mentioned. There is a candied feel, not sweet but like ginger or citrus peel, without the crunch of sugar. Grilled pork tenderloin me thinks, generously dry-rubbed.

Dense with some flirtatious mulberry fruit working the edges, this is an excellent Shiraz from Yangarra Estate.
Sourced from a 2.3 hectare block with its feet deeply rooted in sandy ironstone soils, 20% whole bunches were used and it was matured in 25hL French oak Foudre (50% new) for 16 months.
Blueberries and dark plums build delicious momentum and roll forward with charismatic ease. Some smokiness and meatiness builds depth too. The dense fruit has a soft caress through the mouth before tensing up on close with a shimmer of fine spices. Give it a decant for now or embrace its beauty later.
Certified organic and biodynamic.

This is has picked up very feint "gris" coloration from some skin contact. The nose is very soft and vague with green melon, green peach fruit and not much other complexity. It is medium weight, smooth and almost creamy in its California way, yet there is enough acid ballast. Very simple flavours here. The length is very good with a touch of grapefruit on the finish.

One of the things that distinguishes Oregon Pinot Noir from much of California is there is an earthiness that California does not possess. This 2020 certainly offers bright and expressive Pinot fruit – strawberry, Bing cherry, red raspberry, along with pomegranate and cola notes, but also an earthiness similar to mild mushroom. The acidity is in check, the fruit and oak nicely balanced, and you’re left with a solid wine that reflects its place of origin. Siduri produces wines from many different Pinot regions in Oregon and throughout California, and one of the reasons they are so successful is they understand the place where the fruit comes from. This Willamette will not disappoint and will give you a taste of Oregon.

Siduri was a gateway winery for me as it was one of the first California Pinots that I had tried. I visited their tasting room often, swallowed my disdain for the Dallas Cowboys, and spoke to co-founder and winemaker Adam Lee (who is an obnoxious Cowboys fan) on a number of occasions. I was an unabashed fan. Unlike many other Siduri lovers, however, I was thrilled when Adam and (then) wife Dianna sold the brand to Jackson Family Wines several years ago. I was thrilled for the Lees (they got a boatload of cash for all of their hard work) and for JFW as they acquired a premium brand. I was worried, though, as many a like transaction resulted in, well, disaster. Not the case thus far–Siduri is doing quite well, thank you very much. This Willamette Valley wine, at thirty bucks, is an entry-level wine and I dare say that it is better than the equivalent wines produced by Siduri when Adam was at the helm. Rich fruit, great tartness, surprising depth, and a tasty finish. What else would one want? Excellent.

Agglomerated stopper. Part of the Jackson Family Wines Empire and a common wine on grocery store shelves across the country. Despite that, it is pretty darned good. Medium color, translucent, nice nose of fresh cherry and boysenberry. The palate has good fruit up front, followed by a distinct tartness, and a fairly lengthy finish. For around twenty bucks at most locations? You certainly could do much worse than this La Crema Pinot Noir. Very Good.

This is from a 2 hectare block of dry-farmed bush vine Grenache planted in 1946 on Maslin Sands. The grapes are destemmed and fermented on skins over the whole autumn (158 days post-ferment maceraton) in ceramic eggs. The juice is then drained and matured in the eggs for another 5 months – no pressings are used. This has an intriguing nose that initially reminds me of Barolo. It’s fresh, dry, dusty and a bit spicy, with some rose petal, orange peel and cherry notes, as well as a slight acid lift. The palate is dry, grippy and grainy, but with nice fresh red cherry and plum fruit, as well as a twist of raspberry and tar. It’s very textural: a touch of silkiness, but also some pepper spice and then some grainy, drying tannins with a hessian-like texture. Good acidity, allied to firm but well managed tannins give this real grip: the Barolo analogy stands. It’s youthful and quite profound, and I think it will age in very interesting ways. I’ve not had an Australian wine like this, but I still think it communicates its place very well, albeit in quite a stern way as yet.

High Sands is Yangarra’s Holy Grenache Grail, capturing the essence of their prized old vines. From their McLaren Vale Blewett Springs estate, this biodynamic High Sands block is perched at the top of the ridge, with gnarly old bush vines from 1946 rooted in deep silica sand soils. This was destemmed with 50% whole berry, native fermented, and kept in older French oak for 11 months, prior to bottling without fining. This certainly achieves the trinity of intensity, lightness of being, and structure, with a quiet confidence and nonchalant restraint that lets the finessed purity of this wine shine. Fragrant plum, wild blueberry, sweet wild strawberry, gum tree, and a wash of mineral salts flood the palate, shockingly fresh and finessed for its 14.5%. Tannins are long and lissom, sticky just enough to pin in the fruit to a lingering finish. Though there is a gently ripe sweetness here inherent in grenache, there is a savoury saltiness that rises to match, in the end creating a memorable harmony. Drinking beautifully now, this will certainly continue to hold in your cellar over the next few years.

Medium deep crimson. Blackcurrant, blackberry, graphite aromas with mocha, roasted chestnut notes. Beautifully concentrated and wine with plentiful cassis, blackberry, graphite, fine gravelly textures and integrated mocha, roasted chestnut, vanilla oak. Finishes chocolatey with ample sweet fruit notes. Gently vigorous with superb fruit complexity and mineral length. 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Shiraz. Cabernet Sauvignon was aged in 60% new and seasoned Bordeaux -coopered barriques. Drink 2024 – 2038. The Shiraz component was matured in 1-2 year old puncheons. Final new oak around 50% in the blend.

Deep crimson. Classic blackcurrant, dark chocolate with roasted almond, roasted chestnut notes. Inky deep wine with beautiful blackcurrant pastille roasted chestnut flavours, fine grainy textures and underlying cedar notes. Finishes chalky firm with seductive sweet fruit notes. A highly individual stye with superb definition, fruit complexity, concentration and oak handling. 97% cabernet sauvignon, 3% malbec. Maturation for around 16 months in 50% new and seasoned French oak barriques. Drink now – 2034

Medium deep crimson. Fragrant pure blackberry, musky plum aromas with underlying vanilla notes. Well concentrated and ultra-ripe blackberry, spicy/ hint cloves flavours, some stone fruit notes, fine looseknit chalky textures, very good mid palate volume and underlying vanilla, mocha notes. Finishes slinky and long. Plush fruit, elegant structure. Fascinating wine. Maturation in 30% new and seasoned French oak puncheons for 10 months and then 25hL foudre and a 18hL concrete egg for 8 months. Drink now – 2030

This Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Chardonnay is rich, nuanced, and complex as the nose opens with aromas of baked apple, creamy meringue, ripe pineapple, mandarin orange and fresh peach.
The palate is supple as it is balanced and integrated and exhibits flavours of tropical nectar, orange marmalade, baking spices, ambrosia and vanilla, and offers creamy, long, lingering finish.

Murphy Goode 2019 Pinot Noir, California
Get deeper into wine and food pairing:
From the start wine has been made to be enjoyed with food. So if you are not already, why not make this the year to really get into thinking about food and wine matches? While the reality is that great pairings are subjective, there are strategies to help massage a match. For starters, it helps to serve a food-friendly wine. This California Pinot Noir shows both bright fruit and acidity, two traits that work well to counter richer, even fattier foods. This Pinot’s juicy red fruit, for example, is primed to parry unctuous BBQ ribs, while it’s also deft enough to take-on grilled salmon.
Bottom line: B, Oozes juicy berry and bramble.

Also amazing is the Tenuta di Arceno Chianti Classico Riserva 2018. This is sangiovese at its best, with cherry and plum sauce on the nose. It's so light and floral that cherry and strawberry flavors vibrantly shine. Part of the original tasting notes featured my take that the wine is not overpowered by wood or tannin.

As a symbol of grenache’s revival in Australia, it’s hard to go past this extraordinary wine, which Yangarra proudly calls “the pinnacle of our estate” (and prices accordingly). Made from grapes grown on gnarly old bush vines planted in 1946 on the highest block of the Yangarra vineyard, where the sandy soils are deepest, this is all about power and finesse: pretty, almost rose-petal perfume, but a deep, mysterious earthy scent, too; sweet, generous, ripe grenache fruit tumbling across the tongue, but also lots of dark, fine, dusty tannin holding it all in check. Superb wine.

Unlike the Fijnbosch Chardonnay, which is a single vineyard bottling, the straight Capensis wine uses grapes from different selected sites in the Western Cape. Showing Graham Weerts' sure touch with the variety, this has enticing toast, cinnamon and beeswax aromas, impressive concentration, chiselled focus and minerality and pear and waxed lemon fruit.

An international style of Chardonnay with a subtle South African accent, Fijnbosch comes from a steep north-facing, clay-rich site in the Banghoek Valley. Dense and concentrated, with honeysuckle, fynbos and saffron aromas, cream, toffee and lemon and lime flavours and lots of extract.

Silene is something of a bargain in the Capensis line up, sourced from the home Fijnbosch vineyard and a number of other growers in Stellenbosch. Sweetly wooded in 30% new oak, it's taut, structured and stony, with toast and vanilla top notes, lots of zip and intensity and pear and lemon zest flavours.

Sublime. What a gorgeous Grenache! Prettiness and class all in one package.
Sourced from the certified organic and biodynamic block adjacent to the famed High Sands, the vines were planted in 1946. Fermented in ceramic eggs and on skins for 176 days, this is Grenache purity at its best.
Glorious fruit, sizzling weight, it's just marvelously executed. Easily my favourite Grenache in the Yangarra Estate range, juicy raspberries run riot with flashes of blueberries. Superfine exotic spices frame the edges and push long to a persistent and ever moreish finish. So bright and vibrant in the glass, it feels so luxurious with its silky touch. The High Sands is the flagship of the range but I'd easily take three of these to one of those. Just brilliant!

Vivino and The Best Pinot Noirs for your Cellar
Russian River Valley, California
Best wines under $40:
2019 La Crema Russian River Valley Pinot Noir